Automatic feeder for platen printing-presses.



APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1909.

Patented Sept .20

INVENTOR.

WYTNESSES:

A TTOANE V.

THE-NORRIS Pzrsns co-, WASHINGTON. D. c.

H. HONIGMANN. AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR PLATEN PRINTING PBEssEs.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1909.

Patented Sept.

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was Normls PETER$ cm, wlsumurau, n. c.

H. HONIGMANN. AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR PLATEN PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED-JUNE 21, 1909.

INVENTOR.

WITNESSES A TTORNEV.

- H. HONIGMANN. AUTOMATIU FEEDER FOB PLATEN PRINTING PRESSES. v LPPLIOATIO] FILED JUHE 21. 1909.

970,822. Patented s 0, 1910.

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' A TTORNEY.

HANS HONIGMANN, 01" DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR PLATEN,PRINTING-IPRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 21, 1909.

Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

Serial No. 503,414.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, HANs IIONIGMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Feeders for Platen Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic feeding devices for printing presses, and pertains particularly to the feeding of platen presses.

The object of my invention is to provide an automatic feeding device connected to and operated by the press in which a sheet of paper is fed from a stack carried thereby to the press, and in which the previously printed sheet is simultaneously removed and stacked upon each operation of the platen of the press.

Another object of my invention is to provide an absolutely automatic feeding device in which a stack of paper is placed therein and is fed to the press and printed upon and removed without any hand operation and in which the printing is not smeared or otherwise injured.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a more simple, cheap and effective feeding device which after being set in operation needs no attention except to place a fresh stack of paper to the same when the previous stack has been consumed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention as applied to an ordinary printing press. Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal view taken on the line w-m of Fig. 2. Fig. 1 is a diminished diagrammatic plan showing the feeder swung around out of use and the table in place for hand feeding. Fig. 5 is an enlarged front elevation of one of the tape pulleys, and Fig. 6 is an end elevation of Fig. 5.

1 represents a shaft in the printing press upon which is mounted the oscillating platen 2, and 3 is a large gear wheel carried in the press and cooperating with the running gear of the same.

4 is a bracket projecting laterally from the frame of the press which is designed to pivotally support the complete feeding mechanism all of which is mounted within and carried by the frame composed of the side walls 5 and 6, the end wall 7 and base 8. The pin 9 forms the pivot above mentioned and extends through the laterally projecting portion 10 of the feeder frame and the lateral bracket 1.

The pin 9 is surrounded by a spiral spring 11, the upper end of which impinges against the upper head of the pin 9 and the lower end against the lateral portion 10 of the frame. This spring must of necessity be quite strong and somewhat contracted at all times in order to keep a suitable pres sure upon the feeder frame at all times to keep it from unnecessary vibration and still admit of a certain amount of vertically tip ping movement of the feeder frame when being swung about as the lower edge 12 of the feeder frame opposite to that in which the pivot is mounted is designed to ride over the conically shaped spool 13 revolubly mounted within the bracket 4, said frame passing over the spool till the latter engages a suitable notch within the frame when it will drop again to its normal position and thus become temporarily locked thereby.

Just backof the pivot 9 and to one side of the feeder frame and integral therewith, is secured the work or stock table 14, it being so placed as to come to position adjacent the platen when the feeder is swung out of service, and answer the purpose of the ordinary work table as in common use which application and position are clearly shown in Fig. 4: of the drawings.

In the forward and lower portion of the side walls 5 and 6 of the feeder frame are formed the rectangular openings 15 and 16 in which is vertically adjustably mounted in any suitable manner, the transverse shaft 17 which projects at both ends beyond the side walls 5 and 6 and on such projections slidably carries the adjustable rack or carriage composed of the sides 18 and 19 and the shafts 20 and 21. The shaft 17 is made vertically adjustable preferably by means of the set screw 17 and the spring 17 and said shaft is designed to be operated by the hand wheel 26 when an adjustment of the carriage just above referred to is desired. The side pieces 18 and 19 are cut away transversely forming openings 22 therein, in which openings the box bearings upon the shaft 17 slide when the rack is adjusted longitudinally and for such adjustment the gear wheels 23 and 24 are secured to the shaft 17 and made to mesh with a suitable rack 25 depending from each of the side pieces 18 and 19. Thus when the shaft 17 is revolved by the hand wheel 26 it will move the side pieces 18 and 19, the direction of movement being governed by the will of the operator, this adjustment being provided for the different sized sheets of paper to be fed into the press. The shaft 17 also becomes a pivot upon which the feeding frame or carriage comprising the sides 18 and 19 and shafts 20 and 21 is radially operated in the direction indicated by dotted lines 27, such operation being necessary in order to clear the platen as it oscillates back and forth at its work.

To accomplish the above radial motion of the feeding carriage, I provide the vertically movable pitmen 28 and 29 operating within projections 28 and 29 of the side walls 5 and 6 of the frame, the lower ends of these pitmen engaging the transverse shaft 30 which is slidably mounted within the openings 22 in the side pieces of the carriage 18 and 19. Thus when the pit-men are raised or lowered they will carry with them the feeding carriage. A suitable spring 31 is provided about the itmen 28 and 29 to keep the carriage down in normal position when not being raised by the pit men.

The pitmen 28 and 29 are each connected at their upper ends to beams 32 which are pivotally mounted upon pins 33 in the side walls 5 and 6 of the frame. Each beam 32 carries intermediate its ends a small loosely mounted roller 34 which is designed to en gage an adjustable cam 35 mounted upon the transverse shaft 36 which is journaled in the side walls 5 and 6 and driven by the press gear 3 through the medium of a suitable chain of gears 37, 38 and 39. This chain of gears being such as to properly time the operation of the feed carriage so that at every revolution of the shaft 36 the outer ends of the beams 32 will be raised by the cams 35 engaging the rollers 34 carrying with them the pitmen 28 and 29 and thereby raise the outer end of the feeding carriage, thus when the platen 2 rocks forward in going to print said feeding carriage will be up out of its path and Wlll return a 'ain to its normal position on the return of the platen.

The shaft 20 in the outer end of the feeder frame, or carriage has mounted upon it a plurality of, preferably five, pulleys 40, 41, 42 and 43 which are longitudinally adjustably mounted upon said shaft, it being formed with a number of circumferential grooves 20 and the pulleys having pivotally mounted on one side thereof a suitable pawl 44 which normally engages the groove directly beneath it as clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6, this adjustment enabling the pul leys to be set at any desired point longitudinally the shaft 20.

The inner three pulleys 41, 42 and 43 are designed to carry suitable cloth or other tapes 41, 42' and 43 for delivering the sheets to the platen while the other pulleys 40 carry rubber tapes 40 the object of which will be described later. Both the rubber and cloth tapes extend back into the feeder frame and around the loose roller 45, however, the return or under sides of the cloth tapes are made to pass upward from the pulleys 41, 42 and 43 over the loose roller 46 mounted upon the pivot shaft 17 to prevent their engaging the printed sheet as it returns upon the platen 2, thence from the loose roller 46 the cloth tapes pass beneath the roller 47, over the roller 48 and around the roller 45 up to and around the roller 49 thence back down to the pulleys 41, 42 and 43 by first passing over the roller 47. The rubber tapes 40 in returning from the pulleys 40 pass on a parallel plane with the surface of the platen to and over the roller 48 thence about the roller 45 and return over the roller 47, the object of these rubber tapes being to withdraw from the platen the printed sheet thereon; they being near the edges of the sheet will not touch the printing on same or smear it in any way, but deliver the printed sheet to the belt 50 which is carried on the rollers 51 and 52, and which delivers the sheets to the delivery board or boX composed of the bottom 53 and guard 54, this board being suitably bracketed to the base 8 of the feeder frame. The cloth tapes being much thinner than the rubber tapes do not touch the returning sheet at all, their function being to carry the blank sheets to the platen, the sheet being fed to the tapes by means of the rollers 55 and 56 operated by a suitable belt 57 and the combers comprising the loose rollers 58 and combs 59 mounted upon the shaft 60 driven by a suitable belt 61 leading from the same shaft upon which is mounted the roller 55.

The combs 59 project somewhat beyond the rim of the rollers 58 as shown and as they are keyed to the shaft, revolve with it and at each revolution strike the uppermost sheet of the stock pile and thus feed it to the roller 56 which in turn assists in carrying it on down to the tapes.

62 is an idle roller mounted in the side frames 5 and 6 it being simply for the purpose of assisting the sheets in their downward course upon the tapes.

The roller 56 is mounted in a radially adjustable frame comprising the arms 63 and 64 which are pivoted upon the shaft- 55 of the roller 55 and is made radially operative by means of the upwardly projecting yoke 65 which surrounds the shaft 36 and carries at its upper end a roller 66, while its lower end is attached to the transverse shaft 67 journaled in the radial arms 63 and 64. The yoke 65 surrounds an adjustable cam comprising the half 68 keyed to the shaft 36, and the loose half'69 having a set screw 70 tapped therein and radially movable within the slot 71 in the fixed half 68 so that the movement of the cam may be adjusted to suit circumstances, the working face of the cam bearing against and vertically operating the roller 66, thus it is seen that as the shaft 36 revolves it will impart a vertically reciprocating motion to the free ends of'the arms 63 and 64 carrying with them the roller 56; this reciprocating motion being for the purpose of applying or removing the roller 56 from the sheets of paper as the roll 56 is revolving at all times and will quickly advance the sheet to the conveyer tapes when brought in contact therewith. A still further regulating mechanism is mounted upon the transverse shaft 72 journaled in the side frames 5 and 6 and having mounted upon it a plurality of long fingers 7 3 which reach to a point directly under the roller 55-and are designed to bear up against same when the sheet is to be stopped. The shaft 72 is operated by means of the bell crank attachment to the beam 32 as clearly shown in Fig. 1, which comprises the crank 74 and pitman 7 5 so that the fingers 7 3 are raised and lowered simultaneously with the beam 32, thus whenthe platen is rocked to print and the feeding carriage raised by the action of the beams 32, the stopping fingers 7 3 will be brought up against the lower face of the roller 55 and retard any further movement of an advancing sheet till such time as the feeding carriage is again lowered when they will be lowered and the sheet allowed to advance. Motion isimparted to the roller 55 from the gear 3 of the press through the medium of the gear 7 6 meshing with the gear 37. Motion is also transmitted to the rollers 51 and48 from the shaft 55 of the roller 55 by means of the belt 77 operating in suitable sheaves upon the respective roller shafts.

Within the side frames 5 and 6 are formed rectangular openings 7 8 in which are slidably mounted boxes 7 9 carrying the shaft of the roller 45, these boxes being connected in any desired manner to a suitable spring or springs 80 having their opposite ends adjustably connected to the frame of the machine so that the roller 45 will act as a tightener to the tapes which operate about it and will also compensate for any longitudinal adjustment of the feeding carriage as above referred to. A still further sheet controlling means is provided by the transverse shaft 81 having intermediate its journals mounted thereon the rearwardly extending rod 82 which has slidably adjustably mounted thereon the heavy block or weight 83, this block being designed to rest upon the pile of blank sheets in the apron 85.

To relieve the weight 83 atjust the proper time, when a sheet is to be withdrawn from the pile, the transverse rod 86 is mounted within the arms 63 and 64 and a downwardly inclined rocker arm 87 is fixed to the shaft 81 and set so as to engage the rod 86 so that when the arms 63 and 64 are radially reciprocated as before described, the rod 86 will slightly raise the arm 87 which will rock the shaft 81 and raise the weight 83 from the pile 84, thus freeing the upper most sheet so that the combers can readily carry it off.

A plurality of finger guards 88 are adjustably mounted in any desired manner upon the transverse rod 89 suit-ably mounted within the side walls 5 and 6 and having at one end thereof the extended crank-arm 90 bearing upon the upper face of the carriage frame 18 in such a manner as to rock the shaft or rod 89 and thereby raise the fingers 88 when the carriage is raised, they lowering by their own gravity. The object of these guards is to keep the sheet in its proper place as it approaches the platen.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The feeding mechanism first having been set adjacent the platen of the printing press, the pile of blank sheets of paper are placed within the apron 85 and beneath the block 83 when the machine is started, immediately the combers will attack the uppermost sheet of the pile and work it down beneath the roller 56. Now as the machine continues to run, the shaft 36 will revolve lifting the feeder carriage to clear the platen as the latter goes to print as before described and will at the same time lower the arms 63 and 64 dropping the roller 56 upon the first advancing sheet from the pile and conveying it down to the tapes and between the rollers 49 and 62, thence it will be carried by the tapes to the roller 55 where it is stopped by the upward action of the fingers 7 3 against the roller 55, the mechanism being so timed as to hold the sheet at this point till the feeding carriage is about to resume its normal position upon the platen, when the fingers 73 will be lowered by the dropping of the beams 32 and admit of the sheet being carried on down by the tapes under the guards 88 on to the platen or at least sufficiently so far to be carried away by the platen when it again goes to print during which last process the succeeding sheet will have come on down till retarded by the fingers 73 contacting the roller 55. As the platen returns from its first actual printing operation a printed sheet will be returned and must be removed before another one is applied, this being accomplished by the outer tapes 40 coming in contact with the edges of said printed sheet when the feeding carriage is lowered and carrying the printed sheet back off the platen on to the rear wardly traveling belt or tape which delivers it to the delivery board. In the meantime, of course, the following sheet will have been released from the roller by the stopping fingers 73 being lowered simultaneously with the carriage and the blank sheet delivered to the platen as the printed sheet leaves when the platen is again ready to go to press and an automatic and continuous feed accomplished.

Having thus described my invent-ion, what I claim is l. The combination with a platen printing press, of a pivoted frame adjacent thereto, a radially movable carriage carried by the frame, endless conveyers carried by the carriage and arranged to simultaneously convey the sheets of paper to and from the platen of the press.

2. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent the press, means at the rear of the frame for supporting a stack of sheets, means at the forward end for feeding the sheets to and from the platen of the press, means carried by the frame for conveying at intervals sheets from the stack to the feeder, and said means and feeder operated by the press.

3. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, an upwardly swinging carriage carried by the outer end of the frame and extending over the platen of the press, arms pivoted to the frame at-one end, links connecting the opposite ends of the arms and the said carriage, means for rocking said arms whereby the carriage is raised and lowered with the rocking of the platen and means carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets to and from the platen of the press, and means operated by the press for operating the arms and feeding mechanism.

4. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, an upwardly swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, arms pivoted to the frame at one end, links pivotally connecting the opposite ends of the arms and the carriage, means operated by the press for rocking said arms whereby the carriage is raised and lowered with the rocking of the platen of the press, endless belts carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets to and from the platen of the press and means operated by the press for operating said belts.

5. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, an upwardly swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, means for raising and lowering said carriage, a shaft mounted in the outer end of said carriage, a shaft carried by the frame beyond the inner end of the carriage,

endless belts passing around the shafts, and adapted to feed the sheets of paper to and from the platen and means operated by the press for raising and lowering the carriage and driving said endless belts.

6. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, an upwardly swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, means operated by the press for raising and lowering said carriage, endless conveyers carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets of paper to and from the platen of the press, means for conveying the sheets of paper from the stack to the endless conveyer on the carriage, and an endless conveyer receiving the printed sheets from the carriage and stacking them- 7. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, a swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, endless conveyers carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets of paper to and from the platen of the press, a paper holding frame, a comb for withdrawing the sheets separately from the paper holding frame, means for feeding the sheets from the comb to the endless conveyer of the carriage, and means operated by the press for operating the carriage, comb and endless conveyer.

8. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, a swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, endless belts carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets of paper to the platen and removing the printed sheets therefrom, a paper holding shelf at the rear of the frame, a comb for removing the sheets separately from said shelf, means for carrying the sheets to the endless belts of the carriage, and an endless conveyer receiving the printed sheets from the belts and stacking them.

9. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, a swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, endless belts carried by the central portion of said carriage, and belts adjacent the sides of the carriage bein of a greater thickness than the belts carried by the central portion of the carriage whereby they engage the sheets of paper beyond the printed matter, and convey the sheets rearwardly.

10. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, a swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, endless belts carried by the carriage, the belts adjacent the sides of the carriage being of a greater thickness than the central belts whereby they engage the sheets of printed paper on the sides beyond the printed matter and convey the sheets rearwardly, an endless conveyer for receiving the printed sheets and stacking them, and means operated by the press for operating the carriage and endless belts, substantially as described.-

11. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, a swin ing carriage pivoted to the frame, endless beTts carried by the carriage, a paper supporting shelf at the rear end of the frame, a comb for feeding the sheets separately to the endless belts, and means operated by the press for operating the carriage, comb and endless belts.

12. The combination with a platen printing press, of a frame pivoted adjacent thereto, a swinging carriage pivoted to the frame, means operated by the press for raising the carriage when the platen is moved forward for printing, endless conveyors carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets of the paper to the platen, endless conveyers for removing them after printed, and means operated by the raising of the carriage for stopping the feed of sheets when the platen is moved forward for printing.

13. The combination with a platen printing press, a frame adjacent thereto, a swing .ing carriage carried by the forward end of the frame, means operated by the press for raising said carriage when the platen is moved forward for printing, means carried by the carriage for feeding the sheets of paper to the platen and removing them after printed, and means operated by the raising of said carriage for stopping the feed of the sheets during the printing operation of the press.

1d. The combination with a platen printing press, a frame adjacent thereto, a swinging carriage carried by the forward end of the frame, endless belts carried by the car- 'riage and extending rearwardly through the frame, a paper stack shelf at the rear end of the frame, a comb for drawing the sheets separately from said stack, means adjacent the comb and conveying the sheets from the comb to the endless belts, means operated by the press for raising the carriage when the platen is moved forward, means operated by the movement of the carriage for stopping the feed of the sheets when the carriage is moved upwardly, a stacking shelf below the first mentioned shelf and an endless conveyer receiving the printed sheets from the endless belts and stacking them upon the said shelf.

15. The combination with a platen printing press, a frame pivoted adjacent the platen of the press and adapted to swing over the same, a spring for holding the frame in its adjusted position, a carriage pivotally carried by the forward end of the frame, and extending over the platen, endless belts carried by the carriage and extending rearwardly within the frame, hori zontal arms pivoted at one end to the frame, link connection between the free ends of the arms and the carriage, springs surrounding the links and normally holding the carriage in its downward position, means operated by the press for raising the carriage when the platen is moved forward, a paper holding shelf at the rear end of the fran'ie, a comb adapted to feed the sheets of paper sepa* rately from said shelf, fingers pivoted to the frame below the belts and adapted to be moved upwardly by the movement of the carriage for engaging the belt shafts and retarding or stopping the feed of the sheets when the carriage is moved upwardly, a shelf below the first mentioned shelf, an endless conveyer below the endless belts and adapted. to receive the printed sheets and stack them upon the shelf, and means oper ated by the press for operating said belts, comb and endless conveyers, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HANS HONIGMANN. Witnesses NORMAN E. LA MoND, S. Gno. STEVENS. 

